Inconvenient PC death in D&D

[jollyninja]

I usually leave it up to the player. if they want rezing, it's up to the other players how to get it done, if they want to bring in a new character, I'll give them a few options based on the area they are in and reccomendations for common archetypes and let em run with it. ie. if we're running around the moonshaes and they want to play a local divine caster, i strongly reccomend druids over clerics if we're in waterdeep, sure you can play a half celestial dwarven paladin, why not. with that said if the dwarf was what the guy really wanted to play, sure but tell me why he's in the moonshaes and if you say a divine vision.............

 

[Doug McCrae]

In the last major D&D campaign I played in the PCs were servants of a divine power. When we died we'd get auto-rezzed a few minutes later with an xp penalty, parly shared amongst the party. I think I died about six times, it was a tough game, but great fun. The auto-rez rule made for good campaign continuity.

How I would handle it:
Either the PCs return to town to get the dead char rezzed or he plays an NPC, possibly a animal companion or sidekick, until that's feasible. I'm strongly against rolling up a new PC altogether, in fact I'm planning to change the raise dead rules a bit to make it easier.

 

[Nomad4life]

One of the biggies on my “pre-campaign checklist” is to ask the players in advance how they want to handle character death, or characters who have been nerfed somehow through adventuring. More often than not, the players elect to simply roll up replacement characters that somehow conveniently get integrated back into the story, with a general agreement to go easy on suspension of disbelief in the process.

(Side note: Does anyone else out there have that “one player” who always seems to get his character arrested, no matter what type of character he is supposed to be playing? That's always a headache for me...)

I will say that I’ve come to greatly appreciate systems such as M&M, True20, or even Warhammer FR that have a built-in limited “cheat” feature to get the character back in the action as quickly as possible- Less trouble for the GM and more fun for the players that way, for whatever reason.

 

[Remathilis]

I hand them 4d6

Wow. That's telling. Now, what do you do once they are done rolling up said PC?

 

[Dracorat]

In case you are interested, my system of death and resurrection is spelled out on my houserules list. You are welcomed to check them out to at least get ideas if not rip them off entirely. =P

http://keithratliff.com/CS/forums/ShowThread.aspx?PostID=26#26

 

[Remathilis]

I've stopped short of god-intervention, but I've used prisoners, had PCs leave dungeons, find people lost in the woods, had "hired help" when the PCs go back to town, or let my players run the requisite DMPC.

Since the cleric learned raise dead though, its less of an issue. A raise dead + heal combo only costs the PCs two spell slots and some diamond dust (which isn't so rare since they liberated that diamond mine :\ )

Still, it keeps them happy and focused on the plot, not the mechanics...

 

[Jefe Bergenstein]

I use a luck system. You begin with a luck score (assigned like any ability score). Each session, you can apply up to twice your luck bonus to rolls (all at once, or spread out). If its a penalty, each session the DM can apply twice the penalty to a single roll (or give it to an enemy as a bonus). You can permanently lose a point of Luck to thwart death (being knocked unconscious instead of killed, pass a save, etc). This results in a spiral where the lower your luck goes, the more you'll end up burning it over time.

For story and continuity it works well for our group, since I havent run a game that had raise dead as a spell in years. When characters die, they stay dead.

 

[Joshua Randall]

How about an inconvenient crippling?

Totally differerent thing, in my mind. Ability damage, energy drain, and sundering are part of the game, just like losing hp and expending spell slots. If the PCs get beaten up during an adventure and are far from home, tough! In fact, it's those moment -- when everything seems hopeless -- that often bring out the best in the players. D&D players are really, really good at pulling the fat out of the fire when their back is against the wall.

 

[Mark CMG]

How do you handle “inconvenient” (for the game) character deaths in a D&D game?

Death is never convenient and, thus, is always treated as a matter of course (a fact of life), from a DMing standpoint, and as a roleplaying opportunity by the players in commensurate measure to the depth of the relationship between the PCs. If the PCs have the means to bring someone back from the dead, the player just needs to tough it out or declare they do not wish to be returned. In the case of the latter, they develop a new character by the next game.

 

[Flexor the Mighty!]

Wow. That's telling. Now, what do you do once they are done rolling up said PC?

It would depend on where they are in the current session.